New Details Emerge About Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur Project

Last week, we reported that Guy Ritchie had signed on to direct Excalibur, which was based on a treatment by Warren Ellis (author of must-read comic series Transmetropolitan and Planetary among others). Now, Variety is reporting that screenwriter John Hodge (Trainspotting) is working with Ritchie on a script for the film which will be “a re-imagining of the legend of Arthur,” and use Sir Thomas Mallory’s Le Morte d’Arthur as a primary source.

However, Ellis said that his treatment, “differs from the prior 751 King Arthur movies in many ways, but perhaps most obviously in that it is very specifically about the gathering of the Knights.” Variety also never calls the project, “Excalibur” but I think it’s safe to assume that Ritchie hasn’t signed on to two different King Arthur projects at the same studio.

King Arthur’s profile has been getting raised recently as we also reported last week that director Sylvain White (The Losers) was in negotiations to direct the Knights of the Round Table flick Pendragon. There’s also Bryan Singer’s separate Excalibur project which would be a remake of John Boorman’s 1981 film.